Allegiant Air to fly more frequently to Long Beach, Calif.

Allegiant Travel Co. has added to the airline industry fad of boosting service to Southern California. The company said Tuesday that its discount flier, Allegiant Air, would start four more flights a week between Las Vegas and Long Beach starting Sept. 1.

This would boost Allegiant's Las Vegas-Long Beach schedule to eight flights a week, making it one of the busiest city pairs in its system. Allegiant started flying the route in December.

Because Allegiant must use or lose its limited slots (take off and landing positions) at the Long Beach airport, and because consumer demand for the Las Vegas-to-Long Beach route has risen, the flier doubled its schedule, a company spokesman said.

Over the past year, direct rival JetBlue has gone from 19 to 35 flights a week to Long Beach.

Airlines have also escalated their competition between Los Angeles International Airport and Las Vegas, going from 205 flights a week to 254 in the past year. Fliers that have entered the route or added seats include American, Delta, US Airways, Spirit and Southwest.